Siobhán Bromley

Well, it would seem that my devious plan for sketchbook domination is working and I am cycling through the pages of my moleskine. It’s only early days but I’m now at the stage where if I have to something normal such as housework or eating, I find myself trying to hurry it along so I can get back to my scribbles. And I know it’s bad but if I’m chatting to someone I find I’m often thinking, ‘I could be listening to you AND doodling…damn those unspoken social etiquette rules!!’.

Good Morrow one and all,

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to visit my little www bubble. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Fanks!

Anyway,  here’s another page of swirliness:

Sooo, I couldn’t help but notice that there a websites a plenty out there with artists paying homage to their sketchbooks. So, I decided to climb on the bandwagon. In a bid to force myself to doodle more (one can never doodle enough!!!), I intend to doodle at least a page of my moleskine every day on top of any other work I may be doing. This may or may not work but I’ll never know unless I give it a bash. As part of my initiative I shall start posting some of my sketchbook pages for you all to see the inner workings of my puny brain. I hope that this will encourage me to be less afraid of showing my artistic mistakes to the world and become more confident.

Here are two recent doodles:

I have just spent a rather lovely morning at a prep school in Norwich as a ‘visiting artist’. This is was a very surreal experience for me as I still struggle to call myself an artist with conviction. To me, the word ‘artist’ conjures up images of the great masters throughout time; Carravaggio, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Dali, Rackham. I hardly feel that I am worthy of being part of such a collective.

None the less, I had a wonderful time taking part in the school’s ‘Tudor Day’. The teachers and children were all dressed in marvelous period costumes and a parent was acting as Queen Elizabeth I for the day. My job was to play the Royal court artist. I sat with the children and drew the Queen’s portrait with them. It was all very proper and authentic, I have to say, and the staff did a wonderful job of bringing history alive. There were even real life minstrels, the Mayor of Norwich and a re-enactment of a knighting ceremony!

I thought I’d post the portrait I did. It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it was a fun quicky. Plus, I did it in pastels which I have not used for over 10 years…I think I shall be amending that! I forgot what a fabulous medium it is.

I recently visited two astounding exhibitions and thought I’d share my enthusiasm for them with you.

First was the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008′ at the Natural History Museum, London. I visit this every year and it really is one of my favorite yearly events. Not only is it a celebration of the phenomenons of nature and photographic skills, but it is deeply evocative. I feel the same pang of wonderment and awe looking at the photographs as I do when I watch documentaries such as Planet Earth. We are so extra-ordinarily lucky to have these stunning images of events which many of us shall never witness, at our fingertips. Many of the photographers spend weeks and even months staking out an animal just to capture one momentous shot. I truly am in awe of nature and in awe of the dedication of these artists. If you don’t have the opportunity to visit the exhibition then I urge you to purchase the catalogue online.

The second exhibition was ‘Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005′ at the National Portrait Gallery, London. It included over 150 photographs by the celebrated photographer, interweaving her professional work and autobiographical images. From her more well known images of celebrity figures such as the famous photo of a nude pregnant Demi Moore to the deeply touching documentorial shots of her dear friend’s battle with cancer. It was a well executed exhibition yet I have mixed feelings about her work. Whilst there are a few elements of her style that are not to my personal taste, there is no doubt that she is a very talented photographer. The way in which she can at times, in a simple portrait, portray the person behind the eyes leaves the viewer breathless. In spite of this I did feel that she is somewhat over-rated. Yet perhaps that is my ignorance as I really know very little about the history of the art of photography.

The exhibition did get me all fired up about portraits though and it’s certainly something I would like to gain more practice in. It is such a fine art and is so very difficult to do well that I am intimidated by it…I shall add it to the list of techniques to explore.